The Downfall of the Welsh Principality in the 1277 Year - Essay Example

To what extent was Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s political misjudgement responsible for the downfall of the Welsh Principality in 1277? In its initial form,Wales has been a stated with limited territory. As of its governance, this followed the principles applied on other states at that particular period; in fact, after the independence of Britain from Roman Empire, Wales was developed as a separate state under the name of ‘Kingdom of Powys’. We could describe the boundaries of this state as follows ‘based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries originally extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region in the east’ (Wikipedia, 2008). Llywelyn entered the governance of Wales in 1258 and he started soon to expand his power over the country through the achievement of a series of victories in the battles developed across England – British have been since the appearance of this country – Wales – extremely hostile towards the people that are originated in the specific region. In order to understand the responsibility of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd for the downfall of Wales in 1277 it is necessary to present primarily a series of details regarding the presence of Llywelyn in the throne of Wales and his main strategic decisions in order to protect the country from potential conquerors. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd has been characterized as a powerful monarch who has based his power on his military successes across the country. Despite his achievements in the field of battles had been considerable, his ability to govern the country can be doubted. The research on the particular issue proved that Llywelyn has been a competent leader but with limited diplomacy skills; this fact has probable caused to the increase of hostility against him by the majority of politicians in Wales at that particular period of time (the term ‘politician’ in this case should be related with the political and social power of certain people, i.e. of their ability to influence the political decisions in the country). Llywelyn ap Gruffudd – who is also known as Llewely the Last or as ‘Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf’ was ‘one of the four sons of Gruffydd, the illegitimate son of Llywelyn the Great’ (Wales Online, 2004, online article). He was born in 1228 and he died in 1282 and has been the last prince of Wales. In 1258 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd became the prince of Wales; his high ambitions regarding the conquest of territories and the expansion of his power soon led to the increase of hostility between Llywelyn and the rest Welsh princes. Llywelyn should have tried to improve his relationship with the governors of the various Welsh regions offering them appropriate incentives in order to keep the unity of the kingdom. However, he preferred to develop the opposition against the other Welsh princes trying to ‘verify’ his governance and avoid any request of rights over the ruling of the country. Under these terms, the development of diplomacy should be put as a priority for Llywelyn especially if taking into account that he had to handle the pressure made by British who were always interested in order to conquest the specific region. In the long time, the style of governance of Llywelyn and his ‘isolation’ within the political scene of Wales led to the ‘partitioning’ of the country and its conquest by English. Towards this direction it is noticed that ‘Llywelyn lacked the political acumen of his grandfather, and made an unnecessary enemy of King Edward I of England by continuing to ally himself with the family of Simon de Montfort even after a precarious peace with the English had been concluded’ (Wales online, 2004). In other words, the territorial ambitions of Llywelyn had many aspects; the safety of the territory of Wales from the potential conquerors was not the priority of Llywelyn who wished rather to expand his political power through the development of alliances that could put the peace in the greater region in risk; the freedom of the citizens of Wales was also likely to be put in risk especially if the governors of England would understand that Llywelyn tried to limit their political power. However, all the above issues were not taken into consideration by Llywelyn; instead the Prince of Wales (a title that was given to Llywelyn shortly after his entrance in the governance of Wales); instead the opposition with both the internal and the external environment (i.e. both with the Welsh princes and the enemies) to be gradually increased. Apart from his decisions related with the country’s political field, Llywelyn had to proceed to specific initiatives in order to ensure the continuance of his leadership (referring to the existence of heirs). However, the specific problem remained unsolved. In fact, it is noticed that ‘unusually for a Welsh prince, Llywelyn had no heirs (illegitimate sons being allowed by Welsh law to inherit), and depended on Eleanor to provide him with one; in 1282, she gave birth to a daughter, Gwenllian, but died in doing so, an event which seems to have had a serious emotional impact on Llywelyn’ (Wales online, 2004, online article). The above event had a severe impact on Llywelyn’s psychology; under an extremely adverse psychological condition (due to the above event) Llywelyn participated in the attack initiated by his brother against the English. It was in that attack that Llywelyn was killed, a fact that was welcomed by his enemies, especially the British who considered Llywelyn to be a considerable enemy that created constraints towards the expansion of British hegemony in Wales. One of the most severe mistakes of Llywelyn has been considered to be the ‘concession’ of a significant part of the Welsh territory to England (Henry III); the specific decision, which was taken by Llywelyn and his brother, Owen, led gradually to the increase of opposition between Welsh and British; as a result soon after the above initiative, Llywelyn started to try to take back the Welsh territory given to England. After developing strategic alliances with other Welsh princes, Llywelyn managed to take back a significant part of the Welsh territory given to England. Until his death, 1282, Llywelyn participated in many military attacks against the British trying to expand the borders of Wales and increase the number of his strategic alliances across England. The various events that are related with the governance of Llywelyn have been analyzed by historians and are highlighted in the relevant reports of national and international organizations. However, it should be noticed that the increase of the political power of Lywelyn was not the result of a long strategic plan; it can be characterized as a direct consequence of the use of force in the military field; no specific ‘diplomatic’ achievements can be identified in the governance of Wales by Llywelyn. In this context, it is mentioned that ‘by 1263 controlled much of Wales; in the Barons’ War he was allied with Simon de Monfort, earl of Leicester, against Henry III; by the Treaty of Montgomery (1267) he was recognized as prince of Wales—the first official English use of that title, although Llywelyn had assumed it in 1258; in the English invasion of 1276 he lost all but a small portion of North Wales and submitted to Edward by the Treaty of Conway (1277)’ (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2004). It should also be noticed that the beginning of the development of the power of Llywelyn can be identified in specific military successes, like the ‘conquest’ of Carmarthen and Cardigan and other royal castles across Wales; it was through this military achievements that Llewelyn managed to increase his ‘popularity’ across Wales and verify his competences in the military field; however, despite the fact that the beginning of the reign of Lleywelyn could be characterized as impressive, through the years, it was proved that the new governor had many weaknesses which his enemies managed to identify and appropriately used in order to achieve his ‘elimination’ from the governance of Wales – his death during a military attack against British in 1282 was the result of the efforts of his enemies to ‘hit’ him at a time when he was under extreme psychological pressure and thus was unable to perform in the field of the battle as usually. On the other hand, the end of the reign of Llywelyn cannot be characterized as unexpected. In fact, many events were intervened in Wales before the battle of 1282 (in which Llywelyn was killed by British). In this context, it is noticed that ‘the years 1267-77 were a period of much promise, suggesting that there were in medieval Wales all the elements necessary for the growth of statehood; Llywelyn was lord of some three quarters of the surface area of Wales, and had perhaps 200,000 subjects’ (BBC, 2008, online article). However, despite his political and military power Llywelyn continued to be ‘vulnerable’ in specific sectors; his inability to develop effective relationships with the other Welsh princes was the main reason for the lost of crucial battles and the lost of the independence of Wales. The research over the decisions and generally the style of governance of Llywelyn has led to the result that the Prince of Wales had many weaknesses which were effectively hidden under the successes in the battles taking place across the country. For this reason, it is mentioned that ‘one of Llywelyns difficulties was that he was not the undoubted heir to the patrimony of Llywelyn the Great; some of the smaller lords, particularly Gwenwynwyn of Powys, resented the power of the Prince; the £20,000 tribute payable to the English crown was a grave financial burden’ (BBC, 2008, online article). In other words, Llywelyn had to face not only the physical (in terms of the attempts for conquering the Welsh territory) but also the financial pressure of England. The latter has imposed to Wales an extremely high ‘taxation’ in order to guarantee the ‘safety’ of the country; in practice, this was the best way for English leaders to ensure that Wales’ princes would not have ever the ability to arrange extended military attacks (no funds would be available for such an effort). Even the political power of Llywelyn was gradually limited under the ‘indirect’ orders of British. Regarding this issue it is made clear that ‘under the treaty of Aberconwy, his authority was confined to the lands west of the River Conwy; much of the land to its east is granted to Dafydd; Llywelyn was not deprived of the title of Prince of Wales, but most of the lesser Welsh rulers were no longer to recognise him as overlord’ (BBC, 2008, online article). The political and military ‘isolation’ of Llywelyn (referring to his relationships with other Welsh princes) were the result of the style of governance applied by Llywelyn throughout his reign; no unity existed within the country, a fact that was appropriately used by the enemies (British) who managed to take the control of the Welsh territory. On the other hand, it should be noticed that the independence of Wales from Britain has been achieved through the development of a series of battles across England. Llewelyn has been considered as having a primary role in the independence of Wales; however, certain mistakes made by Llwelyn (as developed above) during his governance have been considered as being the main reasons for the lost of independence of Wales from Britain. Regarding this issue, it is noticed that ‘for almost twenty years between 1258 and 1277, Wales seemed poised to become a independent nation, unified by laws, customs and language; this was the achievement of Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, the only Welshman ever to be recognised as Prince of Wales by a King of England’ (Welsh Heroes, 2004). In accordance with the above, the role of Lleywelyn in the development of the opposition of Wales against Britain (even if the specific case presents a series of other problems that could be maybe resolved under different circumstances) has been crucial. Indeed, it is noticed that ‘that status (Prince of Wales), awarded by Treaty of Montgomery in 1267, marked the culmination of a remarkable period of expansion during which Llewelyn had extended his power base from the ancient northern kingdom of Gwynedd to cover most of modern Wales’ (Welsh Heroes, 2004). Because of his style of governance, Llewleyn has been extremely popular in Wales; however his influence was highest regarding the public if compared with the political powers of that specific period. On the other hand, this hostility of Welsh princes against Llewleyn has been considered to lead to severe disadvantages for the latter regarding the control over the administration of resources available across the country. The specific issue has been highlighted as follows: ‘in the final campaign of Llywelyn the Last in 1282 the forces of Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn were instrumental in his downfall and the demise of Welsh independence when they alongside Hugo Le Strange and Roger Mortimer ambushed Llywelyn and killed him’ (Wikipedia, 2008). In other words, the fall of Welsh that followed the death of Llywelyn would be considered as the normal result of the tension and the lack of cooperation among the country’s political and military powers. It is for this reason, lack of cooperation, that the loss of political and social control took place in Wales almost after the death of Llywelyn. Through the years, the achievements of Llywelyn have been highlighted and accepted both by people in Wales but also in other countries surrounding the specific region (even by British who have managed to take the control of this country by incorporating it within the British territory). Regarding this issue, it is noticed that ‘Llywelyn deliberately set out on a policy of reconstructing the whole basis of Welsh political life, and not every Welshman was happy about it; Llywelyn lived in an age which saw the emergence of the centralized feudal state; both France and England presented the spectacle of societies elaborating their administrative machinery, putting their taxation on a new and sounder footing and systematizing their codes of justice, but Llywelyns principality was small and lacking resources’ (Castle of Wales, 2008, online article). In other words, Llywelyn can be characterized as an important leader with significant skills; for the particular period of time (the years that Wales was governed by Llywelyn) the country met a significant growth while Llywelyn improved his position towards his rivals; however, the skills in the military field were proved to be inadequate for the continuation of the stability (and the freedom) in Wales; Llywelyn has developed the appropriate strategies in order to ensure the independence of Wales towards the potential conquerors (especially towards British); however specific political initiatives should be also initiated in order to ensure the increase of the power of Wales also in the political field. The political and social isolation of Llywelyn – as described above – can be considered as the main reasons that led the Prince of Wales to the lost of control over his country but also to his death. All the above facts have led gradually to the loss of the Welsh principality in 1277. References Castle of Wales (2008), Llywelyn the Great, online, available at http://www.castlewales.com/llewelyn.html BBC (2008) Wales History http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/nation/pages/principality02.shtml Chaplais, P., Jones, M., Vale, G. (1989) England and Her Neighbours, 1066-1453. London: Continuum International Publishing Group [wales1] The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2004, Columbia University Press Wales Online (2004), online, available at Walker (1990) King of Wales, online, available at http://www.castlewales.com/gruffydd.html Welsh Heroes (2004), Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llewelyn The Last) online, available at http://www.100welshheroes.com/en/biography/llywelynapgruffudd Wikipedia (2008), online http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Powys Read More